The present invention relates to a combination football place kicking tee and place kicking block. Each of the embodiments disclosed herein comprise improvements over the teachings of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 629,429 filed July 10, 1984, with the inventor herein being a co-inventor of the invention disclosed in the above referenced United States patent application. In particular, the embodiments of the present invention are believed to be improvements over the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 20-22 of the above referenced U.S. patent applicaiton. Accordingly, the above referenced U.S. patent application is incorporated by reference herein including the discussion in the background of the invention thereof of certain prior art references.
After the development of the kicking tee depicted in FIGS. 20-22 of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 629,429, extensive tests were conducted so as to ascertain the effectiveness of the tee illustrated therein in the kicking tee mode for various angles of the ball as placed in the recesses 407 thereof, and the tee was further analyzed in the kicking tee mode to ascertain its effectiveness for kickers of differing styles.
During the course of the study of the tee illustrated in FIGS. 20-22 of the above referenced pending U.S. patent application, the following deficiencies were discovered to be present in the operation thereof:
(1) It was discovered that the recess 407 thereof was suitable for supporting the football in a vertical orientation but was not as effective in supporting the ball at slight tilts from vertical as is sometimes a preferred orientation of the ball for kickers of all different styles.
(2) It was further discovered that the tee with the ball inserted into the recess thereof substantially vertically was suitable for use with conventional straight-on style kickers, however, it was also discovered that some soccer-style kickers were not having the same positive results as straight-on kickers.
(3) Careful study revealed that when soccer-style kickers swing their kicking foot through the ball, before impact with the ball, the end of their kicking foot comes very close to engaging the ground surface and usually pivots through the existing grass on natural turf surfaces. Thus, soccer-style kickers had a tendency to kick the corners of the tee in both the kicking tee and kicking block modes, thereby disrupting the fluid nature of the intended kick.
(4) It was further discovered by Applicant that with the recess 407 situated as shown in FIG. 20 of the above referenced United States patent application, soccer-style kickers could not engage the ball with their kicking foot at the most optimal location thereon. It was discovered through careful study that while straight-on kickers kicked the ball at an elevation from the bottom tip thereof of at least three inches, soccer-style kickers engaged the ball in a manner such that the end of their shoe or foot may come within 11/2 inches of the bottom tip of the ball. With the tee as designed in FIGS. 20-22 of the above referenced U.S. patent application, soccer-style kickers found it difficult to kick the ball in the optimal location thereon.
(5) It was further discovered that soccer-style kickers in many cases had a psychological problem with kicking the football off a tee which had a sharp corner facing their foot as their foot arced toward the ball.
Again, while the tee shown in FIGS. 20-22 of the above referenced U.S. patent application provided many advantages for use with conventional straight-on style kickers, it was not as effective a tee for soccer-style kickers. Since most kickers at the present time utilize the soccer-style technique, it was apparent that a new tee would have to be devised so as to overcome the deficiencies found in the prior art tee as exemplified by FIGS. 20-22 of the above referenced United States patent application. A tee would have to be devised which would be equally effective with soccer-style kickers as well as conventional straight-on style kickers and such a tee would have to allow the ball to be tilted at greater angles than the prior art tee.